A U.S. District Court judge ruled on April 11 that Motorola Mobility won't be able to stop Microsoft from selling products, including the Windows and the Xbox, in Germany for the time being.

That's the latest episode in the Microsoft vs. Motorola patent battle which has been going on for the past couple of years.

According to today's ruling, handed down late in the day on Wednesday, Microsoft was granted an injunction and temporary restraining order against Motorola, which was seeking to stop Microsoft from selling certain products in Germany. The decision means that Motorola will not be able to stop Microsoft from shipping products in Germany until after the U.S. courts have made a decision around whether Motorola is breaching its promise to provide at reasonable rates the use of its video patents around H.264. A Microsoft spokesperson said the German court decision will not go into effect until after the ruling in the U.S. court of the November 2010 lawsuit, and that this case will be determined later this year.

"Motorola promised to make its patents available to Microsoft and other companies on fair and reasonable terms. Today's ruling means Motorola can't prevent Microsoft from selling products until the court decides whether Motorola has lived up to its promise," said David Howard, Deputy General Counsel for Microsoft, in a statement provided by Microsoft.